


Bat Signal

by Aquinna26



Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-16 15:06:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17551958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aquinna26/pseuds/Aquinna26
Summary: Desperate times, call for desperate measures. He did NOT want to tell Shay about this, but he knew he needed her help.1/26/19:I reposted this story as a one-shot FYI, so the beginning is the same as it was before. Thanks for reading!





	Bat Signal

**Author's Note:**

> [7:9] Dialogue but AU. Shay is still alive.
> 
> 1/25/19: Author Update: I made this a one shot and put the whole story in 1 chapter.

BAT SIGNAL

Kelly popped his head into the conference room, looking to Shay who was going over something with her new partner, Brett.

He held up two cups of coffee, “throwing up the bat signal” he said as a code that he needed to talk.

Shay sighed, somewhat relieved that he was seeking her out. She knew something was going on with him, just couldn’t figure out what it was that had been bugging him lately. Ever since he and Kidd had ended a couple of months ago, Kelly had been in a mood. She had tried to talk to him several different times, but he always blew her off. She finally just decided that he’d come to her when he was ready, she guessed he was finally ready.

Shay walked out of the apparatus floor to see Kelly sitting on the bench in the front of the firehouse waiting for her. Her coffee, just how she liked it, on the bench next to him waiting.

They sat silently for a while drinking their coffee, Shay had learned over the years of her friendship with Kelly that it didn’t work to push him, he had to come to whatever it was by himself.

Kelly sighed and glanced at Shay, “I don’t know I have this feeling like I want to wreck things. I know I’m doing it but I can’t stop myself,” he said quietly. He knew he was going to have to tell her what was going on with Matt. They hadn’t told anyone of the relationship they’d started, hell they hadn’t even discussed it between each other, but he could tell that he was sabotaging it and needed Shay’s help.

Shay looked at him quietly, “What are you wrecking,” she asked quietly.

Kelly heaved a huge sigh and looked at her with a sideways glance,” Matt” he said quietly.

Shay bit the side of her mouth hard to keep any reaction she may have had in. When Dawson left, and Kelly moved back into the apartment with Matt after his relationship with Kidd ended, she didn’t think much of it. Over the last few months though, there had been a couple of moments between them that had made her wonder. Being Kelly’s best friend, she knew he wasn’t opposed to relationships with men, that he had had a few back in his early twenties, just nothing recently. She just didn’t know that Matt was also open to it.

“Oh,” she said quietly as a way of showing him that she was surprised but supportive.

“My whole life it’s like I’ve been pulled along by this current, whenever I try to turn around and swim against it, it just pulls me along anyway,” Kelly said. “I don’t know what the hell is going on. We just have fun together, he gets me, it’s been good,” Kelly said quietly. “That reporter, Naomi, she’s in to him. When I pointed out to him, he got defensive, tried to tell me I was being jealous.” Kelly said quietly. “I didn’t respond well.”

Shay contemplated her next words carefully, she loved Kelly but sometimes he was _so tricky_! “are you jealous?” she asked quietly.

“Maybe a little,” Kelly sighed smiling at Shay because she knew him so well.

“How long has it been going on between you two?” Shay asked gently.

“It’s not like I’m counting but like 3 or 4 months maybe?” Kelly responded

“Have you guys talked about it, what it is you are doing?” Shay asked

“NO, didn’t think I needed too; but then Naomi came around and Matt was smiling and talking about her, and how he was going to call her.” Kelly said knowing he’d snapped, knowing he’d reacted to his feelings about Matt without telling him, therefore he needed Shay, she would know how to fix it.

“Kel,” Shay said quietly putting her hand on his forearm and squeezing, he looked at her resigned to what he knew she was going to say, “I think you need to talk to him. If you want to fix it, which it sounds like you do, you need to talk to him. Don’t quit fighting” she said quietly.

He heaved a sigh, knowing she was right, “people are always saying it takes a special bread to be a firefighter, the more I think about it, the more I think maybe that bread doesn’t find happiness with someone from the CFD, maybe I should just let it go,” he said quietly.

“Do you want to, let it go I mean?” Shay asked quietly.

“No, no I don’t” Kelly said quietly.

“Then I think you know what you need to do,” Shay said quietly hugging him.

“Yeah, thanks” he said hugging her back. “You’re the best,” he said.

Shay smirked, “I know and Kel, don’t think you’re getting away with the fact you didn’t tell me about this little development.” She said with a gleam in her eyes, “You, me, tequila at my place. I want the deets!” she said as they stood and walked back into the firehouse.

Kelly blushed, “yeah ok,” he said peeling off to go find Matt.

 

After shift the next morning:

Kelly heaved a big sigh before unlocking the door to the apartment he’d been sharing with Matt for the last 6 months or so. When he and Kidd ended, and Dawson left, they’d been out drinking one night lamenting their failed relationships. Matt mentioned how he’d either must get a roommate or find a new place. Kelly’s lease was going to be up, and he’d been debating finding a different place. Two weeks later they were roommates again just like back in the academy. At first, it was just two bachelors, two friends living together. Kelly did his thing and Matt did his. But slowly, they found themselves spending more and more time together off shift.

**_FROM THE BEGINNING:_ **

One night, they’d been on the couch watching a Hawks game. Kelly had taken a hard hit from a beam the previous shift, so he was home convalescing. The painkillers Med had given him were strong, so he was trying to be careful, but he was in a lot of pain, so he had relented and taken ½ of one. They also happened to knock him out. Before long he was out, his head nestled on Matt’s shoulder.

When Kelly first fell asleep, Matt froze, not sure what to do. He knew Kelly was in pain and hadn’t slept well the night before, so his instinct was to just let him be, he knew the squad man needed sleep as he was scheduled to back on shift in two days. As he sat and watched the game with Kelly curled up on his shoulder, he couldn’t help but notice how comfortable he felt; how having Kelly that close made something in him relax in a way he’d never felt before. Soon enough he fell asleep as well. The two men slept for a couple of hours curled up in each other’s arms until Kelly woke around 2 am needing to use the bathroom.

When he woke up and realized what position he was in he was instantly embarrassed. Lord! He was practically sprawled over Casey; the poor guy couldn’t have escaped if he wanted to. After standing up and going to the bathroom he came back to the living room.

“Casey, go to your room, sorry about trapping you,” Kelly said blushing 8 shades of red while scratching the back of his head.

Casey woke with a start and realized that Kelly was standing above him, “it’s fine” he mumbled and shuffled to his room completely confused.

They didn’t talk about it again just went about their normal routine, but the closeness, the desire to spend time with just each other continued, if not increased. Casey couldn’t shake the feeling he had when Kelly was around. They fell asleep together on the couch a couple of more times, again not mentioning it or making a big deal of it.

Two weeks later, Matt was flip-flopping in his bed, it was 12:30 am and he couldn’t fucking sleep, they had shift in the morning so the anxiety about potentially being tired was making it worse. He finally gave up and went out to the living room to watch some TV hoping that would lull him to sleep. He was on the couch for maybe an hour when Kelly walked out of his room, half-asleep headed for the bathroom.

“Jesus Casey, what the fuck! Why are you awake?” Kelly exclaimed startled by Matt on the couch.

“Can’t sleep, hoping infomercials will be boring enough,” Matt mumbled despaired by his total lack of ability to sleep.

Kelly nodded and headed to the bathroom to take a leak. When he finished, he walked over to the couch, pulled Matt up by his hand and dragged him behind into his bed. “Sleep, we work in the morning,” Kelly said crawling back into bed after pushing Matt down on the other side without another word.

Matt was now even more awake than he had been before, laying stock still, his brain zooming in a thousand different directions.

“Matt, we’ve slept together on the couch a ton the last couple of weeks, it’s not a big deal, stop thinking so loudly and relax,” Kelly murmured pulling Matt lower on the mattress and spooning him from behind before falling back asleep. Matt lay in Kelly’s arms trying to slow his breathing and calm his mind, the steady beat of Kelly’s heartbeat on his back and the bigger man’s breath on his neck must have done the trick because the next thing he knew Kelly’s alarm was blaring and they’d moved from spooning to Matt curled into the crook of Kelly’s arm, with his head rested on his chest.

Matt was jostled slightly as Kelly leaned over to slam the alarm off before settling back into the bed and putting his arm around Matt’s shoulder’s “Did you sleep?” he asked quietly, his voice still thick with sleep.

Matt lay still for a moment, his eyes trained on his hand that was drawing little circles on Kelly’s stomach as if his hand had a life of its own, “Better than I have for as long as I can remember,” Matt finally replied choosing to be honest instead of skirting around the subject.

Kelly finally moved gently, taking care to jostle Matt as little as possible as got out of bed, “Good, I’m going for a run, be back in like an hour, sleep for as long as you want,” Kelly said casually as he grabbed his running shorts, a t-shirt, socks, and his sneakers before leaving the room.

Matt rolled over into the middle of Kelly’s bed and stared at the ceiling, ‘what the hell was going on between the two of them?’ he asked himself. He’d never been interested in guys before, had never experimented or anything like that, it didn’t disgust him or anything, it was just not something that he’d ever considered for himself. Matt couldn’t deny the connection he felt with Kelly recently, that it was more than friendship he was feeling for the Squad Lieutenant and he wasn’t turned off by the thoughts drifting through his mind.

Matt was going to wake up and go take a shower but the next thing he knew Kelly was barging back into his room, sweaty and breathing heavily, “wake up sleepy, we need to be at the house in 30” he said with a smile on his face, before walking back out of the room and heading to the shower, stripping his sweaty clothes as he went.

They went about their morning routines separately, making efficient work of showering, dressing, eating and getting coffee before they both jumped in Matt’s truck and headed into shift. From the minute they closed their lockers ready to head into briefing they were busy, it was like the universe knew Matt needed to get his head out of the clouds. One call after the next came into 51 before they finally got a reprieve around 10 pm, to eat and sleep.

But of course, Casey couldn’t sleep again, despite how bone-crushingly tired he was. The last call had been a complicated house fire, the women stating that her kids were in their attic hideout, which meant that Casey, with Herman, Severide, and Cruz had to crawl up into the attic and navigate a series of crazy obstacles of stuff to get to the kids. Did these parents not know the meaning for egress, Casey thought to himself more than once as he’d crawled through the attic. They’d gotten the three kids out of the attic by cutting a hole in the side of the house, where Otis and Mouch were with the aerial ready to bring the kids down. The timing of the fire was a little close to comfort for Matt. He was trying to figure out if there was a faster way they could’ve gotten the kids out of the house by visualizing the building in his mind as he lay in his bunk trying to sleep. He was interrupted by the buzzing of his phone.

“Casey stop thinking so loudly! I can hear your gears turning in my bunk, sleep!” appeared on his phone from Kelly next door.

“I’m trying to figure out if there was a faster evac plan we could’ve used” Matt texted back.

  
“That’s what a whiteboard session is for….SLEEP!” Texted back along with a brown noser meme

Matt laughed at the picture Kelly sent him because he knew Kelly was mostly kidding. Their approaches to be a lieutenant had always been diametrically opposed, but their friendship had remained and allowed them to poke fun at each other. Matt found a meme of the middle finger and sent it back to Kelly before turning his phone off and trying to sleep.

He did manage to get some shut-eye but it was in fits and spurts and he couldn’t help thinking about how well he slept in Kelly’s bed the night before he changed out of his uniform and closed his locker ready to go home and rest before heading to his current construction job. Given that they drove to shift together the previous morning, Matt waited for Kelly to finish chatting with Boden about something in his office, reading an article from the latest Fire Science Journal.

“Hey, sorry about that, you ready?” Kelly said as he popped his head into Matt’s office, having already changed and grabbed his bag, which was thrown over his shoulder.

“No worries, what did he want,” he asked as they walked out of the firehouse together saying goodbye to shift mates and the crew coming on.

“Nothing much, he’s thinking of buying a boat, wanted my opinion,” Kelly replied as he climbed into the passenger seat of Matt’s truck. “you working today?”

Matt, his eyes on the road, glanced over at Kelly before concentrating on the road again, “Yeah, I want to finish painting the walls in that bathroom I’m re-doing. What about you?”

“Nothing much, I have a dentist appointment this afternoon, Shay and I were going to grab an early drink, you want to join us?” Kelly asked as he shut Matt’s truck door. It was times like these he was glad they’d chosen an apartment so close to the firehouse, which meant they didn’t have to deal with morning traffic on their way home from shift.

“I have a feeling that between shift and painting, I’m going to be pretty wrecked tonight, rain check?” Matt said looking at Kelly before heading to his room to change in order to head out.

“Yeah, no worries. I shouldn’t be home too late, drink and a movie later?” Kelly asked as he sorted through their mail at the kitchen counter.

“Sounds good.”

Kelly headed to his room to get a few hours of sleep before waking up, going to the bank and then to the dentist. He hated the dentist, but it was one of those things you had to do every 6 months. Luckily Shay had taught him the trick of bringing his phone with earphones to listen to his music about 2 years before and ever since getting his teeth cleaned had been much less painful and uncomfortable.

It was a chilly February day, but the sun was out for once, so Kelly decided to walk over to the restaurant bar he was meeting Shay at. He had time and he needed to think. What was happening with Matt? They’d been living together for about two months, but something was different this time. The sleeping on the couch and then he had dragged Matt into his room the other night! Jeeze, what was he thinking? But god, Kelly didn’t think he’d ever slept as well as he had with Matt in his arms. He had a few moments of experimentation in his early 20s but other than that he’d never really been interested in men nor had he thought about it. And Matt, god Matt was as straight as they come in Kelly’s mind. But at the same time, he seemed to be equally into whatever they were doing as Kelly was. As he walked across the city ruminating, he decided he wasn’t going to question whatever they were doing, and he wasn’t going to talk to Shay about it; Yet. He needed more time to figure out what _IT_ was!

 ******************

 

“Nice and pearly fresh?” Matt cracked as Kelly walked into their place later that evening after meeting up with Shay for drinks.

Kelly rolled his eyes, dropping his keys on the table by the door and hanging his coat up, he stopped in the kitchen to grab a beer and joined Matt in the living room, giving him a big cheesy grin, “According to Dr. Laramie, I should be very proud of my gums, they are thing of beauty,” Kelly said chuckling as he took a sip of his beer, thinking back to earlier in the day when the slightly older man was waxing poetic about Kelly’s oral hygiene routine.

“Did you get a sticker?” Matt replied telling himself to please not melt at Kelly’s smile.

“Nah, left it for the little ones. Did you finish the painting,” Kelly asked looking over Matt who was on the other end of the couch?

“Yeah, just need to do the trim, I will be so ready to finish the project, the women and her designer friend drive me crazy and have TERRIBLE taste,” Matt said shaking his head when he thought of the mint green walls his client insisted on.

“Got anything else lined up?” Kelly asked casually, orienting himself more facing Matt than toward the TV.

Matt turned his body as well, smiling, “Yeah! I’m psyched about the next one. Remember the kid a few years back, Mike Duffy, the hockey player who was paralyzed?” Kelly had to concentrate on what Matt was saying, because the sparkled in the man’s eyes was intoxicating.

“The accident with Voight’s son? Dude that was so long ago!” Kelly exclaimed.

“Yeah well, he’s going for his Eagle Scout and wants to build a handicapped accessible treehouse. He’s gotten his local city park to approve it. He’s asked _ME_ to be his mentor,” Matt said practically giddy thinking about helping with the project.

Kelly shifted on the couch to put his hand on Matt’s shoulder, “dude that’s awesome!” he said before turning back to the movie Matt had been watching. He didn’t bother to remove his arm completely, just shifted it up to the back of the couch. As the night wore on, Matt naturally drifted toward Kelly, seeking out the warmth and comfort of the squad lieutenant. Kelly knew they’d eventually need to talk about what the fuck they were doing, but he couldn’t bring himself to bring it up now. Glancing sideways, he could see Matt sitting stock still, trying to pay attention to the movie, he could also see him fiddling with his fingers, which Kelly knew he did when he was nervous.

Kelly smiled softly at his….what the fuck Matt had become was beyond him, best friend, room made…cuddle buddy…more?. Kelly ignored the thought and moved his arm to wrap around Matt’s shoulder bring the other guy into his side. Matt, surprised at first, looked at Kelly for confirmation that his arm on his shoulder meant that he wanted Matt to move closer, with Kelly’s soft smile and slightest of nods, Matt moved to curl himself into Kelly’s arms.

After watching the movie on the couch, there was a shift, no longer did either man feel tentative, nor did they question whether getting into each other’s space was a good idea. Matt didn’t even try to sleep in his room after that, and Kelly didn’t make any effort to discourage him.

 

 

(Two weeks before the start of the story)

Kelly’s alarm went off ridiculously early, he laid in his bed for a moment, Matt still asleep next to him. They weren’t on top of each other how they’d woken up other mornings, this morning, Matt was his side, facing Kelly, his hand cupping Kelly’s jaw. As he laid there, looking at Matt and feeling the weight of his hand on his face, Kelly realized that it had been almost 2 months since either of them had even _attempted_ to sleep in their own bed. Now, now it was just a given that they shared a bed, usually Kelly’s because he had a better mattress that Matt. They hadn’t done much besides kiss a few times and cuddle. Given all the shit that had gone down in the last few years, Kelly didn’t really question what was going on, however, he was starting to think that maybe they should actually talk about it.

Groaning to himself, because it was early and he was tired and really didn’t want to get out of bed, he rolled carefully away from Matt, he’d sworn to himself he was going to run before shift that morning as he’d been blowing off the runs a lot lately in the name of staying in bed as long as possible.

Their shift had been kind of crazy, a nasty fire at a condemned building around the corner from them and a super complicated extrication that had taken all of Kelly’s brain power to figure out how to get the kid, who’d somehow gotten himself twisted up in some bazar climbing wall treadmill thing that Kelly had literally never seen before, never mind worked on. Given the craziness of the shifts it was fair to say that when he and Matt got back to their apartment the next day, he was worn out and probably not at his best.

“That woman Naomi, the reporter that was asking me about the trailer fire from last week, she called me again,” Matt said as they worked in the kitchen to make themselves breakfast.

“Yeah, what did she want?” Kelly asked putting butter on their toast.

“Wants to have dinner tonight,” Matt said smiling as he worked on their eggs.

Kelly looked up at Matt startled, “What?” Kelly asked surprised.

Matt turned to look at Kelly briefly, he had a smile on his face, “Yeah, we chatted about some other cases I’ve worked on the other day when she came by for some follow-up, we exchanged numbers, texted about going to dinner tonight.” Matt added as he grabbed the plates Kelly had set out with toast. “I think I’m going to do it you know, have dinner. It’s been almost a year since Gabby left, what do you think?” Matt asked as they sat and ate their breakfast.

Kelly was dumbfounded. He felt like a complete and utter idiot. How did he fall into thinking he was in a relationship with Matt, without talking _to_ Matt? How did he not see that Matt didn’t want what they were doing forever? Swallowing his food and taking a sip of his coffee, Kelly sighed and looked at Matt, “I think you should do whatever you want to do,” He said standing and scraping the rest of his breakfast into the trash before he dropped it in their dishwasher. “I just remembered I told Bowdon I’d go in early to over some purchases for Squad, I’ll meet you there?” Kelly said quickly, hoping to avoid Matt responding.

He wasn’t so successful, “What the fuck?” Matt said grabbing Kelly's forearm so Kelly couldn't get too far away and a very confused look on his face.

Kelly stood with his back to Matt before turning and looking at him, “You’ve mentioned her a few times since you met, if you are interested in going to dinner with her you should. You’re right Dawson is gone, got get back out there at some point, right?” Kelly said trying to keep a neutral tone, trying to be the encouraging best friend that Matt needed. Trying to ignore the shattering of his heart.

Matt stood and starred at Kelly for what felt like hours before his lip started to tremble and laugh bubbled out of him.

“What the fuck do you find funny now?” Kelly asked now truly annoyed with Matt.

“You’re jealous!” Matt said laughing more.

Kelly, feeling like Matt was getting a little too close to the truth for comfort bit back with disdain in his eyes, “what the fuck do I have to be jealous of?”

“That I am interested in her, that I might want to spend time with, the time I’ve been spending with you for the last 6 months?” Matt said looking at him as if to say, ‘any of this ringing a bell?’

Kelly didn’t have a response for that, so he went with the age-old “You wish,” and walked out the door. Of course, once he left, he realized he’d made a colossal mistake, but his pride prevented him from turning around.

They mostly avoided each other that morning at roll call and hanging around the house. Kelly stayed in his office finishing a couple of reports and Matt kept to the common room. After writing the same word 3 times on his report, Kelly sighed, put down his pen and went to grab two cups of coffee. Pure black for himself and cream with 3 sugars for Shay. Desperate time call for desperate measures!


End file.
